by Linda Ladd
Looking around the room with fresh eyes, she realized she was in a hospital bed. Both safety rails were up. She had on a thin, generic blue cotton hospital gown that tied in front. There was a white sheet and a white thermal quilt over her, and her head was propped up on pillows. Everything looked clean. The place had the look of a hospital room, but it wasn’t one. It was a regular bedroom, she could tell by the battered hardwood floor and shutters, but it was painted stark white and looked sterile, like an ER or a science lab. Her muddy torn clothes were gone, and someone had washed her body clean. The dirt and blood was gone, and her hair still felt damp and smelled of vanilla shampoo. Now she vaguely recalled being in a bathtub and a woman’s face that she did not recognize. It all was hazy and bizarre and seemed too crazy, too impossible to be true. But she was in that room, she was pregnant, and she was on her own. She was under the control of a man who had no mercy. He would just as soon kill her as look at her. When she looked up at Kellen again, he was watching her, saying nothing, a knowing smirk on his face. Max Kellen was a bully. He boasted about how powerful he was so she’d fear him.
Claire knew she had to keep her head on straight and think clearly, or she’d never escape these people. Again, she forcibly tamped down the awful helplessness she felt. She reined in frightened thoughts and tried to look at them through the prism of cold hard reason. Max Kellen was her enemy, a man without scruples. He no longer pretended to be otherwise. She knew he’d never let her go.
Claire and the baby were still alive. That meant they wanted them alive. That was something to hold on to. If their plans were to sell her child, that gave her almost three months to escape or for Black and Novak to rescue her. They would find her. She had no doubt. Black would never stop until he found her.
“Oh, boy, I can read it on your face. You’re just lying there in that bed figuring what to do next, aren’t you, Claire? I got the impression you’re a clever girl, but you should never have come up to my office and put yourself on my radar. Guess what? If my secretary hadn’t recognized you right off the bat and told me who you really were before you came into my office, I wouldn’t have had a clue about your little masquerade show. She recognized you from your wedding pictures last year in People magazine.” He smiled. “Once I got onto you, you didn’t have a chance. You followed me, I knew you would. I called ahead and got my boys in place out in the woods behind that house. They were already there, waiting. We planned to take you both. When your partner—what’s his name, Novak—when he checked out the house, my guys moved in on you. You’re our biggest prize yet.” He paused, but he wasn’t finished. “Sorry, but Jimbo took care of your partner for me, That’s right, Novak’s dead now, so don’t think he’ll be coming out here to rescue you. He wouldn’t have found you out here, anyway. Nobody knows about this place.”
Claire didn’t believe him. Few men could best Novak in a fight, especially not some lowlife punk who rode with the Skulls. No way was Novak dead. She had heard her kidnappers call and taunt him. No, Kellen was lying to her. Novak and Black were looking for her, she knew them well enough to know that.
Kellen scraped a chair up close beside the bed. Claire didn’t look at him. She moved as far away from him as she could until the handcuff stopped her. She examined its lock to see if she could pick it. She could. Novak had taught her how to do it with a paper clip, along with a lot of other useful things. Kellen leaned close enough for her to detect the strong scent of his cologne. It smelled like evergreen scent but more like Pine Sol to her.
“I’ve got to give it to you and Novak. If it hadn’t been for Billie Lou, I would’ve believed the two of you were married and in search of a baby. I had no idea you were pregnant, either, not with that baggy jacket you had on. I suppose the reason for that visit was to check me out or trip me up somehow. Well, now I can tell you the truth. I’m too smart for you.”
“I hadn’t noticed that about you. Can’t be too smart or you wouldn’t have taken me. My husband’s not going to like it much. He’s a formidable foe.”
Kellen laughed. “I daresay I can hold my own. I’ve been outwitting people like you since I was about ten years old. Now I have a partner who can and will take your husband out with a snap of his fingers. All I have to do is give him his name and your partner’s, too. They’ll both be dead in a week.”
His arrogance was easy to read, but that could work against him. Smug, self-righteous people were always overconfident and underestimated their enemies because they thought no one else could possibly be as smart as they were. He liked to talk, too, pander for attention. She was willing to listen. Maybe he’d let something slip that would help her.
“Okay, now you’re thinking he’s too confident. Sorry, but we’ve been doing this for a long time. Nobody’s interfered yet who lived to talk about it. Guess I got a bit complacent, after a while. Now here you are, causing me headaches. It’s not going to end well for you and yours, believe me. You and your unborn baby will pay the price for your interference. By the way, the doctor says your baby’s doing fine. The heartbeat is normal, and everything looks okay despite what you put that poor thing through the other night. No need to worry about a miscarriage.”
“I’m not worried about anything. Black and Novak will find me, and they’ll kill you.” Claire was pleased at how calm she came across, because she wasn’t calm at all. She was nowhere close to calm.
“Alas, Novak’s dead, whether you want to believe it or not. I’ve been reading up on Dr. Nicholas Black, psychiatrist to Hollywood stars, author, former Army Ranger, hotel entrepreneur, and the list goes on. It’s funny that I’ve never heard of him before, but Billie Lou tells me you’re quite the detective. She’s into celebrities and such, lucky for me. Will Novak’s background’s a harder nut to crack. There’s not much information about him floating around on the Web. He’s a former Navy SEAL but there’s little else about his past. But you and your husband are tabloid fodder. You married big money, and that’s why you’re still alive.”
Claire just stared at him.
“I’ve got a feeling that the good doc wants you back in the worst way. All those newspaper accounts of the wedding told me that he’s quite fond of you. That means he’ll pay us whatever we want. Maybe I’ll even give up baby selling and retire somewhere far away from here.”
Why was he telling her all this? Maybe because she was going to end up dead and could never give up his secrets? Probably. “Like where?”
“A place where a little money goes a long way but I’m going to have millions. So, not to worry, we’re going to take good care of you and your kid, sweetheart, at least until he delivers the money.”
“You don’t know my husband, or you wouldn’t do this.”
“That’s true. I do have you right here under my control, and I determine whether you live or you die. He’ll obviously want you back, so all that is left for me to do is pick a suitable figure and see what he does. He’s quite beside himself now, not knowing where you are.”
“How do you know that?”
“We’re watching him. There are some negatives in all this that you should be aware of. We’re thinking about inducing your baby and then keeping it alive out here for a few months. A beautiful little girl who looks like you would bring us lots of money here in the States. Better be good, or I’ll give that the go-ahead.”
“It’s too early to induce a healthy baby. She wouldn’t survive, and you’d lose all that money.”
His threat didn’t surprise Claire, but no way in hell were they going to get her baby, now or anytime. That threat alone cleared her head. She became more alert. She had listened to every word he said, but she had been scoping things out. Kellen enjoyed the sound of his own voice, and he was obviously trying to intimidate her. He wasn’t going to do anything to her now, so she was safe for the moment. Black would ask for proof of life. He wasn’t stupid. She had to rest up and give Black and Novak time to get to he
r. Better yet, this guy lording it over her wouldn’t be breathing much longer.
Kellen leaned back in the chair, elbows braced on the arms, and steepled his fingers. “Would you care for some water, Mrs. Black? You were pretty bummed up when we got to you. My God, I’ve never seen so many mosquito bites and all those cuts and scratches. The doctor treated all that, so you’re good. You were just a terrible sight to behold. The bullet wound was superficial, just a scratch. Doc stitched it up in no time. Tell you what, you jumping into that river was something to behold. Not the brightest thing you’ve ever done, I suspect. It’s a miracle the gators didn’t get you. You were lucky we got you when we did.”
At the cost of three innocent lives, Claire thought. Claire watched him pick up a pink plastic pitcher from a bedside table. He leaned over her and put the straw up to her mouth. It was ice water, and she realized how thirsty she was—and how hungry and tired and sick to her stomach. She sucked it down until he took the pitcher away. Then she shut her eyes and tried to block him out.
“We’re going to take good care of you. We do that with all our expectant mothers.”
Claire opened her eyes. He actually sounded proud. “What expectant mothers? What is this? A baby farm?”
Kellen’s pleasant expression wavered. “Please don’t push my buttons, because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Where are we?”
“You’re too smart to ask me that question. You know I’m not going to tell you. Just do what you’re told, and maybe you can go home once we get the cash. Once Black knows you’re here, anyway, but I’m going to let him sweat it out for a while. Maybe I’ll send him your ripped, bloody clothes and wedding rings. That ought to get his attention.”
Claire looked down at her bare ring finger and felt anger rising. She was not going to do anything else to hurt her child. She’d already put the baby in danger when she’d gone into the water. At that point, it was live or die. She would play Kellen’s games and be patient until Black found her.
“Okay, Claire, I’m going to send the doctor back in to check your vitals. Cooperate with him. Do it for your own good. If you don’t, then we’ll throw you down in the hole out by the barn where mosquitoes and spiders can get to you. That hasn’t worked out so well for a couple of our moms in the past. They cooperated fast enough after a night spent in the pit.”
Claire wasn’t going to end up there. Maybe the doctor would be bribable. She nixed that idea as soon as she saw the guy. He looked at least a hundred years old. He had on a red cardigan cotton sweater and black dress pants. His hair was white and so was his bushy beard. He shuffled in wearing leather house shoes without socks. He stood back and watched Claire being prepped for examination by the nurse who’d come in with him. He behaved professionally, thank God, and performed the examination quickly and efficiently followed by some questions he read to her off a clipboard.
“Your baby appears to be fine, despite what you’ve put yourself through. Just cooperate, honey, and you’ll come out of this okay. Don’t try to escape and don’t annoy anybody, because the people out here have killed people for less. I’ve seen it. That’s unfortunate, but sometimes you girls bring it upon yourselves.”
These people were deranged, Claire realized. She watched the nurse bustle around, taking her pulse and setting up an IV line. The woman had a pistol strapped at her waist. How long had they gotten away with this terrible stuff? Still, the gun was a welcome sight. When she got a bit stronger, maybe she could either overpower or bribe that little nurse. Black would pay whatever anybody wanted; so would Novak. They both had money. Claire just had to find somebody who was greedy and courageous enough to betray a man like Max Kellen.
Chapter 15
When they got back to the marina, Novak picked a deserted slip and tied up there to wait for further instructions. Eldon called back and told Novak that his brother wished to follow tribal customs so they would take a brief period of mourning before they retrieved the bodies for burial. Novak told him they would wait offshore and stand watch over the dead. Eldon had elected not to apprise Naples law enforcement—or any other law enforcement agency–about the murders, because that would mean red tape and delays.
After that call, Novak sent Pedro to bed and asked Lori to stand guard while he took the Zodiac out to search for Alcina. He felt she was long gone by now, hopefully taken captive instead of being killed. The worst scenario: he’d find her floating facedown in the water. It nagged at him that they hadn’t shot her aboard the boat. That didn’t make sense, but it gave him hope that she was being kept alive for some reason.
It took most of the day because he didn’t want to give up. He found no trace of her out in the bay where the attack had occurred, dead or alive. Nobody on the surrounding beaches or in the seaside bars and restaurants remembered having seen her. A few people thought they might have heard shots the night before but had attributed it to fireworks.
The family had asked Novak to transfer their loved ones to a private beach after dark had fallen. So he took the Sweet Sarah to the designated area and ferried the bodies ashore on the Zodiac. After that, he took his boat back to the marina and locked her down. So it was late that night before Novak and Lori returned with Pedro to the Miccosukee Reservation. Black was already there, after having returned from another futile search. He looked terrible, exhausted and unshaven, and he was pacing the conference room floor, as helpless and enraged as Novak had ever seen any man. Claire had gone into that river over two days ago with multiple search parties out looking for her. Black was teetering on the brink of despair. He couldn’t do this much longer without hearing something positive.
“Any word on Alcina?” was the first thing out of Eldon Osceola’s mouth.
Novak shook his head.
“I searched the waterfront and beaches before we headed back, but we found no trace of her. If they gunned her down out there, her body would’ve washed to shore unless they weighted her down. Pedro says they weren’t on the boat long enough to do that. Either they killed her somewhere else or they’re holding her for some reason. Maybe as leverage because we’re getting too close. I hope she’s still alive, but we can’t count on that, not when we’re dealing with Kellen. He wanted her dead on the beach that first night. Pedro’s a witness and so am I. They’ll be gunning for us, too.”
“You don’t have to worry about Pedro. I’ve already sent him over to my sister’s house here on the res. He’ll be safe there.”
“Good, he’s a little shaky but he’s holding up somehow. We got a few hours’ sleep today, and he looks better. He’s scared his sister is dead.”
Eldon’s jaw was working with emotion. He was angry, and it showed. “They hit one of my search teams out on the river near where Claire went in. Those bastards took James out with one shot. The other two are still alive but in critical condition. Since James was killed inside the preserve, the rangers are getting involved.”
“Oh, my God. I’m sorry, Eldon. Are they going to make it?”
“The doctors are cautiously optimistic. My family’s suffered enough.” Eldon’s face grimaced with pain, but he regained control of his emotions and looked back at Novak. “I’m of the opinion James and his crew might’ve found her but were ambushed by Kellen’s men. He was gunned down not far downstream from that bridge where she went in. I think Kellen’s guys must’ve tracked her somehow and got the jump on James and the others.” He shook his head and turned away again.
“What about Claire? Any sign of her out there?” Novak did not want to believe Kellen had her again.
“They found a tennis shoe where the struggle went down. It was hers,” Black told him, the muscle in his cheek flexing. He sat down at the table and looked up at Novak. “I gave those Nikes to her.”
Novak felt a wave of relief. “They didn’t shoot her right there, like they did to the others. That’s good news, Black. That means they’re keeping her
alive.”
Black’s eyes were shot with blood, and his jaw was clamped so tight it looked painful. Nobody said anything or dared mention the obvious. If Claire had been murdered where the others had been gunned down, an alligator could have dragged her body into the river or her killers could have thrown her in the water. It was a horrific thought, and Black was thinking it, too. He wanted to murder them; his eyes were burning to wreak vengeance. Now Eldon looked the same way. Novak probably did, too. They were all exhausted and worried and frustrated.
Nicholas Black was not a man to trifle with. He was a legit doctor and businessman, but he also had a dark side. He could and would kill anyone who hurt Claire or had anything to do with her murder. Novak could, too. These men who had her were cowards preying on defenseless women and children. Black was still holding it together, but it didn’t look like that would last much longer. Novak had to keep him in check. “We’ll find her, Nick, and she’s going to be all right when we do. So is the baby. We will get her back, and she’ll be okay. Gotta keep telling yourself that, man. Don’t give up now. If they’ve got Alcina, we’ll find her, too.”
“I’ll never give up.”
Novak believed him. “I think it’s more likely they took her to the house Allison told me about. She thought it was in a swamp, which makes sense. That’s where they lost Claire on that river. These guys deal with pregnant women. That’s money in the bank for them. They might want to kill Claire eventually, but not until they get their hands on the baby. Allison told me that much. So that means she is alive and will stay that way until she delivers. Alcina’s not so lucky.”
Eldon did not agree. “Well, we can’t count on any of that, Novak. They’re all still witnesses who will testify against Max Kellen. That signs their death warrants.”